A Deadly Tail The Original Version
by fawnborne
Summary: A girl with no true memories of her past meets one who wishes for a better future. Can emotions be born between them when both have felt too much pain to ever truly want to feel again?
1. Chapter 1

I walk between the trees, a hood over my head to hide my face, a face I despise looking back at. Looking into my deep blue eyes, I see only a monster looking out.

Since I was born I have carried with me a secret no onr knows about. Those who did, the ones who placed it in me, died some time ago. Even if I wanted to tell anyone, though I don't know why I would, they would become lifeless not long after hearing the truth. A truth I wish had been murdered long ago.

_You know if I was dead, you would be, too._

The voice, the dreaded voice. I fall to my knees, holding my head. I wish so badly it would go away.

_It is my powers that have kept you alive these fifteen years._

I shake my head, and pull my dark brown hair as I had many times before.

The voice grows silent, and I wait for a few moments before standing back up, breathing a small sigh of relief. It's over, for now.

I continue on the barren path, coming from nowhere and heading nowhere. I have never had a home, for each village I visit eventually treats me as an outcast, or someone grows suspicious of me. Once, the beast had taken control of me, and I had destroyed everyone. I shudder, trying to repress the memory of the horrified faces, the pooling blood.

Night begins to overtake the day, so I set up camp and look out over the desert I was coming up on. Soon, I would be surrounded by purely sand and sky, nothing else.

I fall asleep, and the night passes with no dreams, as usual. I never have dreams, though I figure this fact is only luck, for if I did have dreams they would surely be nightmares.

I wake to the sound of people travelling through trees. Immediately, I jump into a defensive position, kunai in hand.

"Over here," said a voice in the distance.

They were heading towards me. I face their directing, but the demon could hear others.

"Towards the boarder, come on"

Behind me. I growl, and slowly begin to turn in a circle.

The two groups reach me at the same time. From the trees emerge shinobi of the lead, a blonde-haired boy, pink-haired girl, a boy whose apparel covered most of his face, and another who has a ninja hound with him. In the distance I could hear the sound of shadow clones disappearing.

The group from the sand consists of a boy with red hair and a gourd on his back. Though young, his appearance reminds me of the rumors of the new Kazekage. What the hell did I do to bring the Kazekage from his village? With him stands a girl with blonde hair and teal eyes, and farther back I presume is the often talked about puppeteer of the sand, both siblings of the red head.

"Does she belong with you?" The red head from the sand asks the leaf shinobi, not paying attention to me.

"No. We thought she was one of yours." The pink haired girl answers.

I scowl. They are seriously going to act as if I'm not right here?

"Well, we must figure out where she is from." The red head states. He turns to me, his greenish eyes reflecting the light.

"Who are you?" He asks me.

"Kyuuen Iriama." I reply, no emotion in my voice.

"Where are you from?"

"Everywhere. Nowhere. I don't know exactly."

He considers this for a moment. He is young, not too much older than myself. His siblings stand in a way that says they would rather be somewhere else, but they held a slightly defensive stance, as if they would harm anyone who attempts to hurt their little brother.

It's a shinobi from the Leaf who answers.

"If you do not mind, we can take the girl back to our village. The Hokage would probably like to see her. Perhaps she could be given a place to stay." It is the pink haired girl who spoke.

"Fine. But I will visit in a weeks time to see what the final decision is."

The sand shinobi leave, and for a moment I stare after them. Then my attention is brought back to the Leaf shinobi.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage!" The blonde haired boy says. He has startling blue eyes, but in them I can see fear and pain, masked by the optimistic, boisterous attitude.

"My name is Sakura Haruno," says the pink haired girl. She hads green eyes, but not nearly as complex as the eyes of the Kazekage.

"Shino Aburame," spoke the one with the coat that covers most of his face.

"Kiba Inuzuka, and this is Akamaru" the one with the dog says, accompanied with a bark.

I nod, not really caring much.

_Kill them. It shall be easy._

_No... I can't kill them... there is no reason to._

The demon replies with a low growl, but becomes silent.

"Let's get back to the village," Sakura says as she jumps into the trees. Though I don't know why, I feel like throwing my kunai at her.

The others follow her, but the blonde boy stays with me. I glance at him, them jump up to the nearest branch. Soon he was traveling beside me as we head to the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

"So, Kyuuen, where are you from?"

I look over at him. Was he mot listening to the conversation that had taken place not long ago?

"Nowhere." I reply shortly. He seems dissatisfied by my answer,but becomes quiet.

I can't help myself from continuously looking at the one known as Naruto. I can't quite explain it, but he seems to be exuding a strange force, similar to mine. I noticed this with the red headed sand shinobi as well.

We soon arrive at the village. The two shinobi who guard the entrance look at me with curiousity, but as they realize I am with the group of ninja from the village, they say nothing.

Though I felt it would have been easier and faster to jump from rooftop to rooftop to reach the Hokage's room, the pink haired girl decides it is better to walk.

A while later, we enter the room. In a chair behind a desk sits the Hokage, someone who has a reputation for being a horrible and excessive gambler: Tsunade.

"Lady Tsunade, while we were on patrol we came across her." Sakura said, vaguely motioning towards me.

"Hmm... Where did she come from?" she questions.

"She didn't really come from anywhere. When asked, her answer wasa 'everywhere and nowhere'."

Oh joy. I seem to have become invisible again. I've been doing that alot lately, it seems.

"Does she seem dangerous?"

"Not that I have observed."

The Hokage turns her gaze to me.

"You may stay here for the time being. Naruto, why don't you show, um, whats your name? Around the village."

"Kyuuen," I say, but am quickly pulled out of the room by the blonde. He seems in a rush to get somewhere.

"I'm starving!" He exclaims as we sit down at a ramen stand.

He orders himself a few bowls, and when I reply I don't care what I eat he orders me a bowl of what he was having. I eat it, not even bothering to ask what it is. I haven't eaten in days.

Just as I finish my first bowl, Naruto has a stack next to him. When he notices I am finished, he stands and takes out a wallet in the shape of a frog. He then pays the man who had served us.

"Um, thanks for the food." I say. He smiles.

"Of course! You can't arrive in the Leaf Village without eating at Ichiraku's!"

I smile, not quite sure what to say. I haven't been around people for awhile, much less people like him.

We walk through the village. HE talks most of the time, because whenever he asks me a question, I mutter something uncomprehendable and he just continues talking.

The sky begins to darken, and we stop infront of a vacant house.

"Here is where you can stay," he says with a smile.

"Thanks. And, uh, thanks for showing me around."

He nods, then runs off as he calls back, "See you tomorrow!"

I watch as he goes, then enter the house. But I'm not alone. I never am.

_You should have killed him. You had many opportunities._

I hold my head as I sit on the bed.

_Destroy this village like you destroyed the other. It will do nothing but eventually cause you pain._

"No!" I accidently scream aloud. I pull my long hair, and lay down.

I haven't been in a village for a long time. But the last time... would probably lurk in my nightmares if I was able to have any.


	2. Chapter 2

Well, I haven't touched this story in forever! I recently found the notebook that I had written it all in, so I figured I would continue it. Yes, I realize that the fact that she has a demon isn't the most original, but there is a back story and reason behind it that explains everything, and I'll get to that later in the story. Also, I'm sorry about any mistakes or OOC-ness. I wrote this a few years back, and I'm just typing it up straight from the notebook.

Any-who, enjoy! And please comment/review~

* * *

The week passed fairly quickly. I didn't really have anything to do, because nothing had yet been decided about me; so, for the most part, I spent time training. Because of my traveling, I knew jutsus from various villages. During the time I wasn't training, I usually hung out with Naruto.

When I was with Naruto, I noticed a lot of things. The first included that he liked the pink haired kunoichi, though I couldn't quite fathom why he would. To me, she seemed weak and pathetic. The whole still yearning for a missing nin thing didn't help my opinion of her either. The second fact was that a dark haired, pale lavender-eyed girl liked him. She stuttered whenever talking to the blonde ninja, though whenever not around him she seemed like a kunoichi much stronger than Sakura.

I sighed. What is the point of caring about someone who doesn't even notice you? I found it better not to care at all. No attachment, no hurt. Simple.

When the week met its end, I was brought once again to the Hokage's office. Today, though, it was not only her.

Entering the room, I saw both the Hokage and the Kazekage, an age difference very clear between them. To the side of the room stood the Kazekage's siblings. Everyone's eyes turned to me as the conversation the kage's had been having stopped.

"Hello, Kyuuen," Tsunade greeted. I stood in silence, not sure of what to do, though as the red haired Kazekage stepped forward my attention was directed to him.

"I am Gaara. My siblings are Temari and Kankuro," he said, gesturing to the two standing against the wall. Once again, I was silent. I noticed the same chakra I had at our first meeting, one similar to mine and the blonde shinobi's.

"Lady Tsunade and I have discussed your arrangements and have decided that you come to the Hidden Sand Village." I was about to say something, but he continued, "that is, if you are willing to."

Again, I heaved a sigh. I was going to say that I would rather be on my own, but when I looked into his teal green eyes, something stopped me.

"Sure," I answered simply.

"Good, we will leave tonight." He seemed pleased that I was coming, but before I allowed myself to think much of it I recalled something I had heard in a small village. Suna was low on ninja, and they needed more in order to properly prepare for any threats, though the Kazekage supplied much of the defense.

_They only seek to use you._

I held my head, trying to block out the voice. Gaara reached toward me and grabbed my arm.

"Are you okay?"

To keep the dreadful secret, I lied, telling him, "Y-yeah. Just, um, minor headache."

He looked at me, concern and disbelief in his eyes. He seemed to think about something for a moment, then stepped back, once again becoming the high in power kazekage.

"Please gather your belongings and meet as at the gates at sunset," he said before leaving the room, his siblings trailing behind him.

I left as well, not saying a word to the Hokage. On my way out, I saw Naruto and Gaara speaking. They seemed as if they were old friends, but both of them donned a seriousness that I had never seen Naruto have.

When I walked nearer, they immediately stopped talking and looked up at me. It seemed as if they were looking for something, but I don't know what. After a moment, Naruto broke the silence that had formed.

"I hear you're going to the Hidden Sand with Gaara." He sounded happy, but there was a small trace of underlying sadness in his voice.

"Yeah," I answered plainly, not knowing how I should be feeling about it.

"When do you think you will be back?"

His question caused me to turn to the Kazekage, as I had no idea myself. He answered, "She will visit regularly, but she will become a sand shinobi. I cannot go into detail about the decision."

I remained silent as they spoke, and slowly the conversation changed to something about the missing-nin from the leaf, Sasuke or something of that sort. I quietly excused myself, going to my temporary home to retrieve the few items I owned.

The sun traveled slowly across the sky, and about an hour before I had to meet the sand siblings, I heard a knock at my door. Opening it, I revealed Naruto.

"I thought, since you wouldn't be here for a while, you might want to go to Ichiraku's?"

I was about to deny, but he was the only friend I had managed to gain in the short time I had been here. Shouldering my bag, I left the empty room, following him to his favorite place to eat.

We hadn't been eating for long when someone approached from behind. The shinobi's chakra was gentle, and before I turned around, I knew it was Hinata.

"N-Naruto-kun?" She asked shyly.

"Yeah, Hinata-chan?"

"Would y-you mind if I a-ate with you?"

"Why'd you ask that? Of course!" He replied, grinning at her.

She sat down, and the two started talking. The more time the Hyuga spent with the blonde, the less she stuttered. Naruto often tried to include me in the conversation, but I politely declined each time. I wanted him to spend more time with the timid girl.

"I should probably go," I said, standing up. I was about to pay, but Naruto stopped me.

"I'll pay. Think of it as a farewell gift. Make sure when you come back you stop to see me," he said, giving me his signature smile.

Nodding, I agreed, "Sure." I bid Hinata farewell, heading to the gate of the village. The sun had begun its way to the horizon, and beautiful colors of orange and red played across the navy blue sky. I arrived to see three figures facing the trees. When they heard my footsteps, they turned toward me.

"Are you ready to leave?" The kazekage asked me. I nodded, going to stand beside him. He didn't seem to mind, but I could feel his sister looking at me curiously.

"Let's go," she said, and they all jumped off at the same time. I followed quickly after them, soon beside the red head once again. It was silent, but it was not a silence that needed to be filled.

We traveled long into the night, until finally the siblings descended toward the ground. I stumbled a bit when my feet hit the dirt, and grabbed the kazekage's arm to steady myself. At first, he seemed shocked by my action, but as he recovered from the startle he didn't really seem to mind. As I straightened up, Temari's curious gaze was again on me.

"We'll rest here for the night, and in the morning we'll continue," Gaara decided, his voice in the tone I would imagine he used to command people as a kage. I looked up at what sky was visible, noticing it was growing lighter slightly. I figured there wouldn't be much time to sleep tonight.

Rolling out my sleeping bag, I looked around as the others did the same. The night was warm enough that a fire was unnecessary, so everyone automatically laid down to sleep. I faced the sky, unable to fall into unconsciousness. I sighed and, after a few moments, stood and went over to a fallen tree.

I had only been sitting for a few moments when I heard movement beside me. I tensed, but relaxed as I saw the teal green eyes, black around the edges.

"Can't sleep?" He questioned, sitting beside me. He sounded less like his powerful position and more his age.

"No, you?"

"I haven't slept in several years."

"Why?"

"Different reasons."

"Shukaku..." I muttered, a word that seemed to come out of no where. He turned to look at me.

"How do you know about her? I mean, most do know I have a tailed beast inside me, but not many call her by that..."

I looked at him, stunned. For a moment, I thought I had heard it in passing while in a village, but then I realized the one inside me had given me the answer.

"I, uh, don't know. I guess I heard it somewhere."

_So that's what you're trying to pass me off as? Just some random person from your travels that may have known that name? Seeing as I could sense his demon, his will likely sense me. Which means there is no point in lying._

Dread filled me. No, he couldn't find out, he couldn't know this deadly secret. So many have already passed into a dark eternity because of it... but not him... It's more than him being the kazekage. He's different... and yet his fate could be the same as all of the others.

Gaara looked at me, into my eyes, trying to find out the cause of my despairing look. It seemed as if he wanted to help but had absolutely no idea how to.

As the night grew on, my eyes began to grow heavier, and my head began to droop. Beside me, the red head was looking up at the stars, thinking about something I could not have guessed at. Eventually, I leaned against a tree beside the fallen one, falling into a slumber that was much needed.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Author's Note:_****_  
_**_Thank you guys for the comments and suggestions. About the OC friend for my OC, I'll try to fit it in, though I'm not sure where. I'm still working with all of my old work, and though I may change a word here or there, I'm trying to just stick with the original. I haven't looked at it in so long that it's surprising me as I look through it, and I don't even have a clue of what's around the corner. I'll let you all know when I finally get through the old writing and start new chapters, though the basic idea is still in mind.  
_

* * *

Seemingly only minutes later, sun shone onto my face, causing me to stir and open my eyes. At first I was confused of my whereabouts, not realizing why I was not in my sleeping bag. Lifting my head, a flood of red came to my face when I realized I had fallen asleep leaning against Gaara.

The one who was the cause of my blush looked just as he had when I had last closed my eyes, staring up at the sky. When I moved, he looked down at me, his blue-green eyes meeting mine.

"Enjoy your sleep?" He questioned, and though I wasn't sure, it seemed as if his face had also turned a shade darker. I quickly discarded the thought and nodded my head, standing and stretching.

When I turned around, as our backs had been toward the camp, I found that the Kazekage's siblings were also up. The girl, Temari, noticed I had awoke and smirked at both myself and her youngest brother.

"Did you two sleep well?" She asked, and I automatically knew she had seen us while I had been sleeping, and while Gaara had likely been watching the stars. My face grew red again, bu before I could say anything Gaara walked swiftly through the now empty area and in the direction of the desert, speaking only three words in a harsh tone.

"It was nothing."

Though I couldn't quite explain it, his words hurt a bit, but all his sister did was roll her eyes and mutter, "Sure, sure, whatever you say," while chuckling a little. Kankuro, the middle child of the three, followed his older brother into the last trees we would be seeing on our journey. When Temari started walking, I took it as a cue to follow them.

Grabbing my bag, which was the last item in the clearing, I followed the sand ninja, careful to stay a good distance from the Kazekage. Because of this, though, I stayed closer to his sister, whose blonde hair was up in the same way I had seen it the first time we met: four ponytails, two on the bottom, and two on the top.

The thing that drew my attention was the large fan she was holding. On my various wanderings through small villages located in the Land of Wing, I had heard the fan could be a very deadly weapon. I must have been looking at it for some time, because eventually the wielder of the weapon opened it and spoke.

"Like my fan? I've had it since I was young, though when I was small I could barely lift it. I can't stand fighting wthout it; it's a part of me, I suppose."

"It looks powerful," I replied, noticing with the help of the monster inside of me small, vein-like chakra patterns in the weapon.

She smiled, as if remembering exactly how powerful it was, and once again it was quiet. The walk soon began to grow tiresome, and I let my gaze wander to occupy my mind with something interesting. The problem was, though, that my gaze always landed on the shinobi who carried with him a gourd of sand. I kept thinking about what my demon had said, and prayed to whatever god was out there that it was wrong. I also thought about the three words he had spoken so harshly, and tried to get my mind to realize it was nothing, so I should stop thinking about anything of the matter Temari had obviously been hinting about.

Of course, I could not look at her brother for more than a moment before she noticed, and another before she thought something of it.

"What do you think about my brother?" She asked curiously, lowering her voice so the two ahead of us wouldn't be able to hear, though judging my the slight shift in both of their heads, they were catching every word.

"Uhm..." I stalled, trying to think of something to say. "Well, his puppets kind of creep me out, I don't really know why, but they do. Other than that, I don't really know him, so I can't say I have any thoughts about him."

She sighed, and up ahead I could have sworn I felt a plan coming I most definately would not like.

"I wasn't talking about Kankuro, and you know I wasn't. But to make my question exact, I will put it this way. What do you think of my red haired brother, the one with the sand gourd?"

"Uhm..." was once again my brilliant response, struggling to say something that would not lead her to think more of what she likely already had forming in her head. "Well, hes, uh, the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand, so he's, uh, powerful."

"Anything else?" She prompted, elbowing me slightly. I sighed, not wanting to say anything, especially if he could hear. But the distance between Gaara and Kankuro had further increased from myself and Temari, so I hoped they could no longer hear.

"He's... Well, he seems a bit withdrawn, as if someone talking to him is something new, at least me talking to him makes it seem that way. But he's kind, and well, he's just..." I couldn't find words to quite describe him the way I wanted to, so I ended up cutting off mid-sentence. Temari seemed to have gotten the answer she wanted, though, because she smiled, and I assumed if she was the skipping type she'd be skipping now.

I glanced nervously in front of me, wondering if they had heard any of what I had said. I hadn't muttered much, but to me it felt like a lot.

We hadn't walked very long through the slowly parting trees when it began to grow warmer, and soon we stood facing a sea of sand.

"As long as there are no sandstorms, we should be able to reach the village at least by nightfall tomorrow," Temari remarked. The four of us stood in a line, and thanks to the fan-wielder I stood between her and her youngest brother.

"Then let's move," the puppet master said, and immediately headed into the vast land. I followed behind him, as did Gaara and Temari.

Though I had been in the Land of Wind before, I had never really gone too far into the desert, so I was unprepared for sand that constantly flew into my eyes, the wind that whipped my hair around and caused it to knot, or the baking heat that caused me to move slow and tire easily.

The three sand siblings seemed perfectly at ease in the environment, which was to be expected as this is where they grew up. But as the heat sunk into my skin and wared the top of my head, it seemed to bake my brain and caused me to become light-headed. I stumbled along behind the others, but as the wind picked up it wasn't a refreshing breeze - simply warming currents that worsened my state. My vision began to blur and I stopped, unnoticed by the sand shinobi. In one swift movement I fell to the ground, my vision blacking out.

In the back of my mind, I heard a single shout, one most would think a kazekage would say in such a way, because it was not uncaring and far from powerful. "Kyuuen!"

* * *

"I told you she wasn't dressed right for the desert!"

"And I told you that you should have taken care of it!"

"Just because I am a girl does not mean I am automatically in charge of that type of thing."

"Okay, but seeing as you are both girls I thought you'd be the best to take care of it!"

"Could you two stop your arguing for one simple minute?"

"Well, I'm going to the small village not too far from here to get her clothes, seeing as I guess it's my job."

"All I-"

"I said, stop."

"Just because you're the Kazekage doesn't mean you can tell me what to do. I'm older than you, you know!"

"Whatever. Is she going to be okay?"

"You care about her, don't you?"

"She is going to be a sand ninja. I care about all of our shinobi."

"That's not it, and you know it."

"I'm not talking about this with you."

"Fine. But can I at least say one thing?"

"What."

"You have been acting differently since you met her."

"End of conversation. Now."

* * *

Whatever I was sleeping on, it was freezing. I sat up immediately, only to see a black sky and a small fire with two figures sitting around it. I rubbed my eyes, and a headache I hadn't noticed was there came into full focus. I pressed my palm to my temple, stood up, and walked toward the only source of light in sight.

WHen the two people noticed my footsteps, they turned to face me, the flames revealing the faces of Gaara and Kankuro. For a moment I wondered where Temari was, but seeing as neither of her brothers seemede worried, I assumed she was fine. Gaara's face, actually, showed what I figured was relief, though his emotions were often hard to depict.

"How do you feel?" He inquired as I say down, completing a triangle around the fire.

"Fine, I guess. But my head is throbbing. What happened?"

"You fainted. Temari went to the nearest village to retrieve some more desert-worthy clothes for you. We will be slightly later than planned on arriving in the Hidden Sand Village."

I bent my head, embarassed by all of this. "Sorry..." I mumbled, though I was doubtful they could understand what I said.

Gaara seemed as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't think of what it was to say. Eventually, he stood up, muttered a quick "I'm going for a walk," and left. I sighed, my eyes following him until the night swallowed him in black.

"Well, I'm going to sleep," Kankuro said, and he went off to his sleeping bag that had already been laid out, leaving me alone by the fire.

_What's the deal with fainting? If an enemy attacked, we would both have been dead._

_They wouldn't let me die. They'd protect me._

_Would they? Are you sure about that? Isn't that what you said before, and you saw how that turned out. They turned on you, left you to die._

_They wouldn't do that. If not because of me personally, they need shinobi._

_You pesky humans and your trust. It will be the death of me._

The voice died away with a growl, and I sighed, hating the thing even more. They wouldn't let me die, would they? No, absolutely not... I think.

Though I had apparently slept several hours from when I had passed out earlier, I curled in a circle by the fire, not knowing where my sleeping bag was and not having the energy to look. I drifted to sleep with the middle sand sibling muttering something about a 'new puppet' followed by a laugh before snoring loudly.

When I woke, two figures lay soundly sleeping around a few flickering embers, and I noticed a blanket was draped over me. Not too far away, Gaara sat looking at the moon, and though I had no proof, something told me he was to thank for the blanket. I watched him a while longer before I laid back down, pulled the blanket around my shoulders, and went to sleep just as a pair of teal eyes turned to me.


End file.
